Catch a projection by its heat and certainty

Treat a reaction that is both strongly emotional and completely certain about someone else as the moment to check for projection.

Por que funciona

Jung writes in Aion that shadow contents carry emotion with a kind of autonomy: the emotion happens to a person rather than being chosen, and it tends to arise where a person is least adapted. He also observes that the projections hardest to see are the ones the other person seems to justify completely. So the cue is not the content of the judgment, which will always feel accurate, but its texture: heat that arrives before thought, combined with a certainty that there is nothing of you in the situation.

Como fazer

1. When a reaction to someone arrives fast and hot, note two things before acting: how strong it is (0 to 10) and how sure you are that you play no part (0 to 10).
2. If both numbers are high, write the judgment in one plain sentence ("She is selfish").
3. Underneath, write the same sentence with your own name in it, and leave it there without arguing for or against it yet.
4. Ask whether this is the trait you would least like anyone to say you have, and whether what they did could plausibly be read another way.
5. Wait a day before deciding what, if anything, to do about the other person.

Evidência

The link between autonomous emotion and the shadow, and the observation that a projection which seems fully justified resists insight, come from the shadow chapter of Jung's Aion, drawn from his analytic practice. Social-psychology research supports a narrower form of projection: across six studies, Newman, Duff and Baumeister found that people who push away the thought of having an undesirable trait read that trait more readily into others' behaviour. A review by Baumeister, Dale and Sommer concluded that projection is evident but may be a by-product of defending self-esteem rather than the defence itself. (anecdotal)

The 0 to 10 ratings and the question about the trait you would least like to have are applications of Jung's observations and the lab finding, not steps either source describes. The lab studies test how people interpret others' behaviour, not Jung's method, and no study has tested whether this check changes anything. Heat and certainty are also present when someone really has wronged you, so the check is a pause, not a verdict.

Fontes

• Jung, C. G. (1959). Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Collected Works, Vol. 9, Part 2), chapter 2, "The Shadow". Princeton University Press.
• Newman, L. S., Duff, K. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (1997). A new look at defensive projection: Thought suppression, accessibility, and biased person perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(5), 980-1001.
• Baumeister, R. F., Dale, K., & Sommer, K. L. (1998). Freudian defense mechanisms and empirical findings in modern social psychology: Reaction formation, projection, displacement, undoing, isolation, sublimation, and denial. Journal of Personality, 66(6), 1081-1124.

Erro comum

Using the check to talk yourself out of every strong reaction. The aim is to separate what in the reaction is about you from what is about them, not to decide that you are always the one projecting.